Side Edge Touch Electrodes Replace Physical Buttons
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Solution Overview
Problem
The increasing demand for image display devices, such as smartphones and tablets, is hindered by the physical hardware buttons on their bezels, which increase device size and component count, complicating fabrication and design.
Innovation Solution
A display device with a touch sensing soft button structure in the bezel, utilizing side edge touch electrodes and a touch sensing circuit to detect user inputs, eliminating the need for physical hardware buttons by integrating touch sensing functionality into the display panel.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If physical hardware buttons are provided in the bezel, then button functionality is achieved, but device size increases and component count increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces physical mechanical buttons with a touch sensing system. The touch sensor structure includes touch electrodes arranged in the bezel region that detect finger touches through capacitive sensing, eliminating the need for mechanical button components. This substitution reduces device volume while maintaining button functionality through software-based touch detection and response.
Solution Approach 2:
The bezel region is given multiple functions: it serves as both the structural frame of the display device and as the location for touch-sensitive button controls. The same bezel area that provides structural support also houses the touch sensor electrodes, allowing the bezel to function as both a mechanical structure and a sensing interface, thereby reducing overall device size.
2Ease of operation
If physical hardware buttons are provided in the bezel, then button functionality is achieved, but the number of components increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the button control function with the existing touch sensor system of the display device. The touch electrodes for button functionality are integrated into the same sensor structure used for screen touch detection, combining multiple functions into a unified system. This reduces component count by eliminating separate mechanical button assemblies and their associated mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
Physical mechanical buttons and their associated mechanical components are replaced with an electronic touch sensing system. The button press action is detected through changes in capacitance at specific electrode locations, eliminating mechanical switches, springs, and physical actuation mechanisms, thereby reducing overall component count.
3Ease of operation
If physical hardware buttons are provided in the bezel, then button functionality is achieved, but fabrication becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The button control electrodes are fabricated using the same thin-film deposition and patterning processes as the main display touch sensor electrodes. This unified fabrication approach allows both the display touch functionality and the bezel button functionality to be manufactured simultaneously in the same production line, simplifying the manufacturing process and reducing fabrication difficulty.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution allows for more compact designs, reduces component count, and enables creative design options by replacing physical buttons with touch-sensitive bezels, enhancing user interaction without the bulk of hardware buttons.
Implementation Method 1
a touch sensor structure including side edge touch electrodes in a location of a display panel corresponding to the bezel
Data Source
AI summary
A display device includes a substrate having an active area and a non-active area where the non-active area includes a first and second routing areas; a transistor over the active area; a device insulating layer over the transistor; a pixel electrode over the device insulating layer and electrically connected to a source or drain electrode of the transistor via a contact hole in the device insulating layer; an emitting layer over the pixel electrode; a common electrode over the emitting layer; an encapsulation layer over the common electrode in the active area and the first routing area, and having an inclined surface in the first routing area; one or more dams at a boundary between the first and second routing areas and having a height higher than those of surroundings; and a side edge touch electrode in at least one of the first and second routing areas.